Why Teaching is most important profession

Introduction:

Teachers have the capacity to shape the minds and futures of many - and they do so at

all kinds of critical life stages. Kindergarten teachers introduce young minds to the wonder of

learning - and to the basic tools of learning that students will use their entire lives. Middle

School teachers have the onerous challenge of instilling a passion for academics in large

groups of teens and tweens, whose minds are so deeply focused on developmental issues and

their idiosyncratic social worlds. High school teachers are charged with teaching detailed

intellectual content to large groups of “near adults” - whose worlds are often tumultuous on

the inside and on the outside. College professors are charged with inspiring young adults -

teaching them the nuts-and-bolts of highly technical content areas while showing them how

limitless their life possibilities are. And in combination, across an individual’s lifespan, it is

an army of teachers who have ultimately shaped how that individual understands the world

and his or her place in it.

Teaching is an important profession

Teaching is one of those things that nearly everybody thinks he or she can do better

than the experts. Everybody has taught something to somebody at one time or another, after

all. We begin our amateur teaching careers as children by imposing our superior knowledge

on our younger siblings or playmates. As students, we pass judgement among our peers on

this or that teacher's capabilities. As adults, those of us who do not teach professionally stand

ever ready to criticize those who do. Teaching students information in a way that they will

remember and put to use is one of the greatest gifts anyone can give to another person. Doing

so opens students’ eyes to new ways of looking at life. While so much emphasis today is on

learning the hard skills necessary to excel in a certain profession – particularly in

the postsecondary environment – much of the “life-changing stuff” happens in the younger

years as children accumulate knowledge at the hands of a good teacher. 

Teaching is an increasingly demanding job with divergent influences, dynamic sources of

innovation, and sometimes aging dogma that makes it all a struggle. It can be emotionally

draining, and at times, impossible.

Importance of Teaching:

1. The potential to transform lives

Ask any teacher who has helped a student in any number of ways, from academic to welfare

and emotional learning, and they will tell you that life is not only good, but amazing.

2. It gives you the chance to be continuously creative

Of course, there are increasing levels of accountability in teaching, but teachers are allowed

to be creative in every lesson. Even in observations, in fact most of all in observations,

lessons are encouraged to be creative and interesting to engage the students. Teachers have so

many opportunities to try new ideas, and indulge in iterative process to ensure the optimum

learning environment is created.

3. It offers you a chance to continuously get better

Teachers are not only encouraged to seek continuous professional development, but can ask

for observation on a regular basis, to provide opportunities to grow and learn from masters or

more experienced practitioners. In so few professions is there such support, and considering
that as a minimum, contracts are for a year, teachers have so much time to demonstrate

improvement. A growth mindset is part of the foundation of teaching.

4. It is a grounding, humbling profession

The amount of work teachers do compared to remuneration is shockingly disproportionate, in

2 senses: firstly, in terms of how many paid vs non paid hours of work they receive, and

secondly, in relation to other similarly creative and important (and not so important)

vocations in our society. But that is not why teachers teach. So few teachers go into the

vocation for the salary – it’s a calling before anything else.

5. There is always satisfaction somewhere

Teaching is a calling, and no one enters it without his or her inner voice telling him or her

that. Of course, there are always some imposters, but the massive majority have their hearts

in the right place. How cool is that for the students?

Having said that, teaching can be and is incredibly demanding, and often we can lose sight of

that calling, bogged down in aspects of the profession that don’t seem to be connected to

it. But on closer inspection, most of the extra demands are actually central to the job itself:

explaining to parents where you are coming from; being observedTake this last aspect,

crucial to understanding whether students are learning what you believe you are

teaching. Yes, it is very time consuming, but perhaps one of the most important and

fundamental weapons in a teacher’s arsenal; any good school will understand this and the

other cited demands, and create an environment where they become part of directed time.

It is when these aspects are not acknowledged in directed time that the conditions for burnout

are rife.
6. It’s a chance to truly lead the world in the 21st century

Introducing students to new technologies and ways of presenting, curating, and collaborating

with others with what they know is truly exciting and truly invigorating. Modern teachers are

actually pioneering pedagogy, and can and will be able to hold their heads up high in the

future when we look back and see how learning in this day and age took a radical but

enormously beneficial turn for the better.

Engaging students in greater collaboration, and instilling initiative in curation and the

promotion of information leads to truly independent learning, and setting up such learning

environments is an opportunity that all teachers now have before them. There are few more

gratifying feelings than being needed.

7. The children

This is why we teach, isn’t it? To improve the lives of children? There aren’t many careers

where you have the opportunity to work directly with children while trying to make their

today a little smarter and their tomorrow a little brighter.

Conclusion

Of course, so much of the technological addition to teaching has all been achieved mostly

through our own initiative, having to source and implement the enterprising learning

strategies. But this only provides another string to our bow, and in the context of how

important 21st-century skills are, another example of why teaching is such an amazing thing

to do. Sometimes teaching is exhausting, but friends, always come back to the core of what

we are doing.